Oct/Nov 2002

30th November 2002

Women's Micro-Credit: Loaning, Repaying and Re-loaning

Last year, the women of Hejiang Village started their first cycle of micro-credit loans, with a bi-annual repayment plan. Each loan amounted to RMB 1000 (GBP 86.9); most women used their loans to purchase livestock. This year, we are pleased to report the success of this project, as all the women have repaid in full and were satisfied with the small individual projects that they were able to start with the loan they received from DORS. A total of RMB 8500 (GBP 739) was collected from 11 women.

Women in Moduo Village, where the second cycle of micro-credit in Hamlets 1, 8 and 9 took place at the beginning of this year, repaid the first instalment of their loan, which amounted to half of the total loan. In total an amount of RMB 27, 765 (GBP 2414) was collected from 61 women.

DORS also started a new loan cycle in Chenhe Village. Group meetings were first held to explain the scheme, and alternative methods were discussed. The women were able to express their concerns about the different issues related to micro-credit loan, and actively participate in the design of the scheme. For this project, repayment is twice a year and the dates were decided by the women themselves, according to the cash income at different times of the year.

Loans in Banyang 1 (fourth round of loan) and Sugu have also been collected during the past two months.

Community Water Supply Project

As part of Misereor funded projects, DORS has selected Wenzeluo Village in Ganluo County to carry out a new Community Water Supply Project. DORS staff visited Wenzeluo Village in October for three days to carry out both general baseline and water baseline studies. About 10 % of all households were interviewed during these three days to get an overview of the current situation of the village and their water supply needs. Participatory meetings were carried out with villagers and an engineer from the Ganluo Poverty Alleviation Office (PAO) in order to design the new water system. A contract was signed with the villagers who are responsible for the construction of the whole system. With this new system, every household in the village will be connected individually to the water system. A total of RMB 9300 (GBP 809) was first released for the purchase and transport for the materials needed to build the tanks. We would like to thank Misereor for their support for this project.

Construction of Teke village's community water supply system has also begun. This is one component of DORS' Integrated Community Development Programme supported by Kadoorie Charitable Foundations. A contract was signed at the beginning of November with the villagers after an engineer from the Ganluo PAO designed a plan for the system in conjunction with the villagers. The villagers have started digging the trenches for the pipes and an amount of RMB 11,615 (GBP 984) was first released for the first part of the construction for the purchase of the materials.

Xiangshu Village Forestry Project- Fall Planting Completed

A meeting was held with the villagers in Xiangshu Village to discuss the method of allocating the saplings that were to be planted this year. During the meeting, the villagers also discussed and drew up regulations for the management of this forestry project. After the forestry training that took place in September, the villagers started preparing for the planting season, we visited the village again to verify that the land had been prepared correctly. We then distributed 20,000 walnut saplings and 1,650 cherry saplings. 115 households (population 435) are benefiting from this project.

DORS News and Information

A new volunteer, Peter Vautier, from the UK arrived in November to join DORS team as Project Assistant. Peter obtained a degree in Development Studies and Chinese from SOAS, London University in 2002. Peter has lived in Nepal for 8 months and in Beijing for two years.

This past two months, DORS has welcomed various visitors. A group of 6 Tibetan women consisting of members of the Women Federation and the women cadres of the Dranang County, arrived in Hanyuan on 20 October, for a three-day study tour as part of the CIDA funded Agri-Team Canada-Basic Human Needs Project. They visited two of DORS gender related projects and were able to discuss with the villagers about the design and implementation of each project. A workshop for the study tour group was conducted after the visits to DORS project sites.

Christopher Lavender, Director of Kadoorie Charitable Foundation (KCF) also visited DORS in October. He visited two KCF funded projects, Teke Village in Ganluo County, where he was able to observe one of the participatory meetings that were carried out for the community water system. He also visited Wanping Village in Hanyuan County, where he viewed the progress on our forestry project, the education project and the animal sties project.

Kirsty Smith, Director of MRDF visited Hanyuan at the end of November to check on MRDF funded projects in Fuyou and Moduo Villges. Ms. Smith also discussed with Zhuang Yong Tao, our Project Assistant one of the DORS trainees, as a part of a community development worker-training program funded by MRDF.